


Boys will be boys

by Furtive



Category: One Piece
Genre: ASL Brothers, Canon Compliant, Childhood Friends, Childhood Sweethearts, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Canon, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-10
Updated: 2016-04-10
Packaged: 2018-06-01 09:03:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6512023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Furtive/pseuds/Furtive
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ace surprises Sabo with something that seems slightly ... Out of character. Kids have a hard time expressing feelings after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Boys will be boys

**Author's Note:**

> I have a lot of Asl brother feelings and honestly , I need to just get all my ideas for them down. This will be my first work but I definitely have more in store! Mostly one shots though. Thanks for the read!
> 
> Also I'm writing on mobile so sorry if their are any awkward breaks, rich text usually crashes my phone

Ace waved goodbye to Makino, who had recently came to visit from the windmill village,her kind smile gestured her parting but also her promise to return soon. She was previously giving him lessons to properly greet a person Luffy always seemed to be blabbering on about, Shanks, whoever that was. He must have been one hell of a guy in order for that kid to always ramble about him, but Luffy was a genuine judge of character, so he must've been really great. But their usual lesson wasn't what the two practiced today.

Ace looked down to his feet and kicked a rock, with an audible "Tch!" escaping his clenched teeth. A slight rose color swept over his spotted freckled cheeks as he thought of their previous conversation before her departure. "Ace? What did you say? Could you speak up please?" "I said..." His voice was hushed, "Could we do a different lesson today?" Makino smiled softly and gazed upon the boy, he was looking away from her, obviously he was nervous but too keen on keeping his tough demeanor in check. "Of course we can, I'll do my best to try and teach you what I know." She replied. Without knowing, Makino's presence made it harder to asked what he wanted directly. Even so, Ace pulled through. He shifted his eyes to hers, but his body was still positioned away, taking in as much breath as he could to prepaid his lungs, he yelled, "PLEASE! TEACH ME HOW TO PROPERLY TELL SOME ONE I CARE FOR THEM!"

Makino's eyes widened, and only for a second she stood silent, she then took a seat on a nearby log and chuckled. To this, Ace responded by a bear like groan, shoving his face into his hands. Although his face was not visible, the tips of his ears gleamed bright red. "Who is this person you want to express your 'care' for, Ace? Can I ask that?" Makino laughed with a sweet expression. Ace remained quiet, he only moved slightly at the sound of his name being said. He couldn't believe it, to ask this was so stupid. Not only did he out himself, but now Makino knows something about Ace, he wished he never said it, he couldn't say anything, this whole ordeal was too embarrassing! There was no way to redact what he said , so unwillingly he shook his head to signify 'No you can't know! Don't ask anymore questions please! This is torture enough already!' Thankfully, she understood what Ace was feeling, and don't ask for names. "Well, from your actions I think it's safe to assume its a love interest? I think!" Makino's cheeks pushed her eyes closed as she offered another one of her lovely smiles to him. "Affection is a little hard to display, I'd have to admit, but there are many ways ! You have to smart with small gestures of course, Ace. Like compliments, hand holding , and maybe even a kiss on the cheek!" She herself looked a bit embarrassed but she seemed to have cut herself off, "But maybe you should just start off by simply talking to them?" Everything after that was a blur to Ace, he often did like listening to Makino talk, she was a real nice lady to him after all. And no , he didn't mean to not pay attention, he was just occupied with what he was going to do when he met up with... Gah! Even thinking about it was painful, his idiotic feelings he had gained for his best friend. It was all that was on his mind lately but he couldn't really pin point when he started to feel... Whatever he felt towards ... Sabo. Ace knew that something was off when he started to want to spend extra time around Sabo, which of course most friends do, but he knew it was different. Any time Ace helped Sabo up from a tree, his warmth lingered in his hands. Soon after that he tried to find any excuse to touch Sabo's surprisingly soft hands. It usually was along the lines of 'look what I found!' While putting some tiny spare change into the blondes hands. Even his imperfect toothy smile made Ace happy to see, 'I want to see him smile like that, all the time,' Ace would often think. Damn! This isn't how you are supposed to feel towards your best friend! Ace shook off his thoughts and as he finally saw Makino out of his view he decided to visit their secret spot.

Ace dashed throughout the forest, his weapon fashioned similarly to Sabo's was still resting on his back, he hadn't used it yet so the walk over was pretty boring. Rustling through the leaves faster than usual, he was rather surprised all the sounds he was making didn't attract an enemy. Even to himself it was unknown if all the noise was being produced because he wanted to fight, or because he wanted to see Sabo as soon as possible. As he ran he looked up to the sky, 'The sun looks really bright today, almost like Sabo's hair...'

Why was he thinking that!? Damn, he wasn't feeling like himself. He desperately needed to see Sabo just to calm himself down. It seemed when he was away from Sabo proved to be the worst, that's when he thought about his friend the most.

"Hey Ace!" His thinking was halted by a familiar voice, a very familiar, friendly voice. 

He turned and to his delight it was his friend, "Sabo!" He said a little to enthusiastically. The blond gave a bright grin and pushed aside a rather tall foliage. When met faced to face with Ace he slapped him on the back and have a hearty laugh, "I see you and I had the same idea!" Ace smiled, and in a less forward gesture grabbed his companions wrist. "Come on Sabo! Let's go count the treasure!" They were not too far from their designation, but this put a little disappointment on the dark haired boy. Running with Sabo's wrist in his hand gave him comfort, he wondered what would've happened if he reached for his hand instead... "Okay Ace! We are here!" The blond shifted a little weight on his side to skid the two to a stop, facing the direction of the tall tree they had called theirs. Sabo gently tugged his wrist away and began to trek up the tree. Ace followed right after, and of course he tried to race past Sabo subtly, so he could offer assistance, because he himself didn't want to throw away his pride to ask for help... But he also didn't mind giving it to Sabo. "Do you need help getting up?" Ace asked looking directly at his friend. "Heh- I can do this myself, I think I've finally got it down!" He replied. The freckled boy pouted a bit.

Once they both settled comfortably on the tree, Ace began to observe the situation, he quietly sat as Sabo began to speak. The nicely dressed boy directly across from him pulled up the secret compartment cover and placed his earnings inside. Still speaking.  
Ace always listened to Sabo, but he was unknowingly drowning him out, looking at how cute Sabo was when the spotted amounts of sunlight splashed on his hair and skin. The breeze was really nice today, slightly blowing the hair that he didn't bother to move from his eyes, simply because he was too infatuated with Sabo. And-

"Hey Ace! Ace! Are you listening to me?"

"...Yes..." Hesitantly Portgas offered.  
"Are you okay?" Sabo questioned with a rather worried expression.  
'Damn, don't look at me like that!' He thought, 'Why why why!'  
"...Yes..." Ace repeated.  
A sigh exited Sabo's mouth and his sea blue coat flew upward as he slammed himself to sit down. Legs crossed, arms crossed, Sabo gave off an annoyed expression. His face jolted forward, rather close to Portgas, looking deeply into his eyes. 

"Remember, we can't keep any secrets from each other so you better hurry up and just come out with it!" Sabo uncrossed his arms and pressed one of his fingers deeply poking into Ace's chest. He thumped it about three times in a row.  
'Ow' Ace thought, rubbing his palm on his body. He glanced up to see his friend still pointing his finger at him, eyebrows furrowed. Of course he knew Sabo was capable of giving terrifying death glares to any scumbag around the gray terminal, but this was not it. This was an adorably worried face he just wanted to.... Ace grasped Sabo's hands, holding both with his own. In that slight moment, Sabo looked down and let out a very small "huh?" Holding hands... Check. "Your fighting is really crazy, next time we duke it out it might be a close one. I also really ... Like to... Umm... Fight along side you too." Compliment... Check. Ace leaned in and kissed the side of Sabo's cheek, dangerously close to the corners of his lips. Once he realized that, Portgas' face flourished into a bright tomato red. He couldn't believe his own promiscuity. 'Idiot!' He thought to himself. 'That is too close! Too close, what are you doing!" He tightly clasped his lips shut and lowered his forehead onto his 'friends' shoulder. he couldn't even speak, but his hands did that for him, he adjusted them so he could hold Sabo's hands more firmly. Both to say 'I am so dumb and yes I just did that' and 'I want to keep holding your hand, idiot.'

"..."

Why did he do that? What was wrong with him? After this his best friend would surely want to leave him, after this he would join all those people who said he was just some brat, after this he would hate him, after this he- 

"Ace..." Yet again the blond interrupted his thought.

"Hmmmm?" The flustered boy responded within the clothes of his 'friend.'

"Was that a confession, or something?" Sabo asked in a very hushed voice.

"..."

"And did you kiss me?" Sabo shifted a little and looked slightly down to Ace.

"..."

"Well...I'm still going to fight by you, and be your friend. We are still setting sea together, okay? I hope you don't think I would leave you." Ace's hands tightened in Sabo's, he was unsure if this was a pillowed rejection or...

"And if your going to kiss me at least do it how it's supposed to be done..." This time Sabo squeezed back, rubbing his thumbs lightly over Ace's hand. Ace looked up at the other boy only to see that his eyes were looking up at the tree tops, away from the gaze of his peer. His cheeks gathered specks of sunlight and a pink haze of blush. 

"Are you saying I don't kiss good?!" Yelled Ace, "I'll show you more if you want! That was my first time so watch this next one will be way better!" Sabo went back to looking at his companion and laughed, "I bet I could kiss better than you in my first try!" 

Bickering as always, but playfully, they some how turned their affection into a contest. But no matter what, neither let go of their interlocked hands. Forgetting that time was a thing, they stayed in the treetops until sun down.


End file.
